Glue Trap
by Llampaca Eating Guppy
Summary: Jedediah gets himself into some trouble.


Warning: I've never written for these guys before, so I'm not sure how in character they're going to be.

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Jedediah jerked, attempting once again to get loose from whatever it was that held him. It didn't work and he still couldn't move.

His body was twisted uncomfortably thanks to landing on such a sticky surface. His left arm was mostly underneath him. It had gone numb a while ago. His right arm was splayed out in front of him, stuck at an awkward angle from trying to catch his fall. His hair had been caught as well and pulled without mercy, but at least he hadn't fallen face down. There was no doubt in his mind that, if that had happened, he would have suffocated. Of course, he was still going to be in a heap of trouble if he didn't figure something out. "HELP!"

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Octavius paced, his cape billowing out behind him. Where was Jedediah? It was nearly sunrise, and he hadn't seen the cowboy all night. Not only that, but he'd taken the car with him.

At first, Octavius had been agitated with his friend, but as the hours ticked by it had slowly grown into worry. Suppose he had crashed. What if he had gotten hurt?

Larry chose that particular moment to pass through the Hall of Miniatures. "Larry!" Octavius called.

Larry paused and walked towards the tiny Roman. "Hey, Octavius, what's up?" He asked.

"Have you seen Jedediah?"

Larry frowned. "I can't say that I have. We can go look for him a minute if you'd like. There's still a little time before sunrise."

Octavius nodded, and Larry held out his hand, allowing the tiny Roman to jump on. They roamed the hallways asking around for a while before Teddy told them that he remembered seeing the car parked near the basement door earlier that night.

Sure enough, the car was still there. "Why would Jed be down here?" Larry wondered as he headed down the stairs, flicking on the light switch.

The basement was well-kept, although a little cluttered with stacks of crates and boxes. In short, there were plenty of places where Jedediah could be.

"I do not know." Octavian said. "But I hope we find him soon."

"Help!" A tiny voice called. Larry didn't even hear it.

"Jedediah!" Octavius cried. "Go that way! Hurry!" He directed Larry to a group of wooden crates towards the back.

"Jed? Jed, where are you?" Larry asked.

"I'm down here!" Jedediah called.

Larry knelt down and peered between two of the crates.

"Aw man, Gigantor, am I glad to see you!" Jedediah said.

"You've sure gotten yourself into a fix, haven't you?" Larry asked as he reached over and lifted up the glue trap Jedediah had somehow managed to get caught on.

Octavius' eyes widened. "What happened to you?"

"What business is it of yours what happened?" Jedediah snapped.

"Hey, calm down." Larry reprimanded. "Let's get you to my office and I'll see what I can do to get you out of that mess."

"Okay." Jedediah sighed. "Sorry Octavius. It's just been a rough night."

Octavius looked at his friend in Larry's other hand, trapped on a plastic tray full of glue. 'A rough night' seemed like an understatement. "All is forgiven, my friend."

Larry whisked the two miniatures away to his office, put them on his desk, and proceeded to look over Jedediah's situation more closely. It wasn't good. He had somehow managed to basically throw himself into a plastic glue trap, the deep kind. One of his arms was in the glue far enough that it didn't even break the surface, and about half of his other was the same way. His hat had fallen off and was stuck on the edge of the trap, meaning that every strand of Jedediah's hair and the left side of his head were stuck. That was the main thing that worried him. Sure, the rest of him was glued down, too, but that could be handled easier than his head.

"Y-you're gonna be able to get me outta this, right, Gigantor?" Jedediah asked, noticing the look on Larry's face.

"Well, do you want the good news or the bad news?"

"Good news."

"The good news is that I'm going to be able to get you out of there."

"And what, exactly, is the bad news?" Octavius asked, noting Larry's cautious tone.

The night guard hesitated. "Well, the bad news is that I can't get him out tonight."

"WHAT?"

"Jed, calm down and listen to me. All I've got here are cleaning supplies, and those things have some strong chemicals in them. I don't want to hurt you."

"I don't care! Just get me off!"

"Jed, I'm not going to risk-"

"Look at me, Gigantor! I'm tired, my hair's tryin' to pull the skin off my head, and I haven't been able to feel my arm for who knows how long! You can't just _leave_ me like this!"

Guilt settled onto Larry's conscience as he watched the cowboy, who looked as if he was about to cry. "Look, if there was something I could do, I would do it. But there's no time. It's almost sunrise, you'll be fine. I promise."

"Easy for you to say," Jedediah moaned.

"I'm sorry, Jed. I really am. You can stay here and I'll see you tomorrow, okay?"

Jed didn't answer.

"Might I stay with him?" Octavius asked.

"Yeah, of course you can. I'll see you two later." Larry agreed and left, closing the door behind him. A despondent groan came from Jedediah.

"Do not despair. It will be all right."

"No it won't."

"It will. Larry will return when we next awake, and then we shall free you."

"I want to be 'free' now, Octavius! I've been stuck like this almost all night!" Jedediah yelled, and tried to squirm his way out of the glue again.

"Jedediah, stop! You're just trapping yourself further, and you might hurt yourself!"

Jedediah didn't have the chance to respond, because at that point the sun came up.

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Larry meant to return to his office right away the next night, but was delayed thanks to a complication involving the Neanderthals. By the time he got there, he found Octavius trying to calm a desperately squirming Jedediah. "Whoa! Jed, it's okay. Calm down."

He lifted the trap so it was level with his eyes. The cowboy stilled and looked at him. Larry could see tiny tears on his face. "You gettin' me outta this mess now, Gigantor?"

"Yes I am." Larry said, lowering Jedediah back to the desk and reaching into his bag. "I did some searching around online and found this trick." He told them, pulling out a bottle of cooking oil and a spoon.

Larry poured oil over the trap and Jedediah, being careful around his head, afraid of accidentally drowning the cowboy. "Okay, Jed, see what you can do."

After what felt like an eternity of squirming, cursing (on Jedediah's part), Octavius attempting to be encouraging, extra oil, and an occasional helping prod from Larry with the spoon, Jedediah finally dragged himself off of the trap and collapsed on Larry's desk.

"That's better, isn't it?" Larry asked with a smile.

Jedediah just nodded.

"All right, let's get you cleaned up." Larry said and scooped Jedediah up, despite the cowboy's protests. He carried him to the restroom and began rinsing the oil off of him in the sink. Jedediah's indignant complaints turned into sputters as the water poured over his head before he eventually settled down, accepting his fate.

When Larry was certain that all the oil was gone, he took Jedediah from the sink and set him on the counter. The cowboy snatched the paper towel Larry offered him with a glare that would have been menacing if he were normal sized and began to attempt to dry himself off. Larry tried to hold back his laugh.

"This ain't funny, Gigantor!"

"Of course it isn't, Jed." Larry surrendered and they returned to Larry's office, where Octavius was waiting.

"Jedediah, it's good to see you back!"

"Good to be back, partner."

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**A/N: I don't own Night at the Museum. Reviews and constructive criticisms are more than welcome. Have a nice day :)**


End file.
